Some blogoshopping ;)

Hello ppl,

i was actually searching for these thing since quite some time. Those little little accessories , tiny trinkets, oh-so-loveable gadgets, useful widgets, the adjectives seem endless. Since i am new to this sphere, was unaware where the shopping market is. Some tinkering around, rather i should say, accidental discovery, and i found the button in customizing called 'Add new gadgets'. And i step inside and see, quite a lot of merchandise !

Thats what a girl wants ;) Lot of options !!! hehehe !! Could not resist myself from adding a few things to the blog. I was searching in particular for the method by which i could link others blogs to my own. It serves 2 points:

1. When you don't have any new posts, at least your readers can entertain themselves by window-shopping the linked posts.
2. You are giving visibility to your friends. ;) More like you promote me, and i will promote you. :))))
   

Wicked haan,but do not worry, the other gadgets are really useful. The next one i picked was a 'Quote of the day' gadget. Now that's something i really like. I remember sacrificing every new year diary given by my father's bank to write more and more of thoughtful quotes, collected from newspapers back then. Even today, the Sunday Times has a section where it gives a handful of famous lines. They really make my day. Sometimes outright funny, other times smart and witty. I hope this gadget gives some really good quotes; to keep the stream of visitors entertained :P.

Ok Ok, the shopping is still not done. Because i ran into a thesaurus. This little search window allows you to just pop in a word and will churn out the meaning.....you might need to use it frequently on my page ....hahahaaa ! ( bahut ho gayi self-appreciation ;)). Ok, so me done...and the page looks so much better ! I plan to do some more of this kind of shopping when i get bored with the current additions...after all iske paise to nahi dene padte !! Win - Win situation for anybody ! Chalo guys, enjoy the page ! Cya all soon !

It's not about the bike : My journey back to life by Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins

My good friend Rohit Keluskar (whom everybody calls Kelu) had the presence of mind (:P) to give (...........rather i should say , lend - that is the more appropriate word ;)) me this book - written by Lance Armstrong , the world famous cyclist whose name has become synonymous with the 'Tour de France'. The book is co-authored with Sally Jenkins and was published by Random House. The first edition came out in 2001.

The book traces the life of one of the world's most talented and celebrated athletes , Lance Armstrong who evokes strong memories of the fist-pumping winner of the Tour de France - the mecca of the cycling world. But as the title suggests, the book is not about his biking exploits but about his journey back to life after being diagnosed with testicular cancer at the young age of 25. Imagine having the world at you feet and then suddenly you are thrown off-gear ; not just that you are almost smashed to death with less than 40% chance of survival.

But as the author says, the book is not meant to be polite conversation. It is Lance's way to tell the truth, about cancer, about brain surgery, about being rendered sterile, about survivorship and lastly about beating the odds. The book starts with Armstrong discovering that he has cancer, and then goes into flashback mode, detailing his childhood, his upbringing, his mum's efforts to raise him notwithstanding all the troubles and tensions. It describes his fascination for acceleration; speed; restlessness which is then chanelled into high-activity sports. The book describes the initial days as a triathlete and then discovering his special cycling abilities. How he makes the impression on the radar of the cycling world as a young prodigious talent and then making the mark with national and international wins.

The cataclysmic moment comes after being crowned world champion with the discovery of testicular cancer which has invaded not only his lungs but also his brain. Armstrong is left numb, out in the cold, unable to face the sudden death staring in his face. Fear is what you realise when you hear the words -"You have cancer." he says. Through the book Armstrong tries to detail each stage of his cancer treatment, right from the extreme shock and then to the painful realisation of the same. He stresses the importance of knowing what you are afflicted with and have a plan to fight it, the fact that second, third and even fourth opinions must be sought and no stone must be left unturned. The book sheds light on the facilities available today ( i am sure, things have advanced even more as of now :)) to fight cancer and also details the brain surgery he had to undergo to remove lesions ; the horrible chemotherapy process where toxins are seeped in your blood which kill cancer cells but also end up blowing out the healthy ones. Throughout the treatment, Lance made sure that he remained active irrespective of his health. Also the book shows how his family and friends support him wholeheartedly.

He feared that his career as a cyclist was over because the cancer eats you out. After the treatments, he recounts his comeback and the various problems associated when faced with withdrawals from sponsors, no contracts and almost being without money. But the tough and determined individual that he is, he fights every obstacle in his path to win the ultimate honour for any cyclist and that is the 'Tour de France', putting many nay-sayers to shame.

The book talks about cancer and cycling in the same breath and makes us aware of the various terminologies involved in both. So you realise what is a peloton (The main group of riders formed during a cycling road race), what is bonking (the condition when an athlete suddenly loses energy by failure to eat and drink enough during the race ), how cyclists attack (A sudden attempt to get away from another rider), the strategies used during 'Tours' , the yellow jersey- the ultimate joy ! (Feel free to refer to the pdf in the link at the end for more cycling terms.) As also you learn about oncology (branch of medicine dealing with cancer tumors), chemotherapy, various markers used to diagnose, etc etc.

The book is written in a very Texan manner, just like how Lance Armstring is, loud and flamboyant. You can't help but marvel and learn a lesson or two regarding enduring determination from this guy. He shows you how to keep fighting when the chips are down. A book worth a read. To get inspired and to break free. Read it for the sheer beauty of seeing someone come back from the dead.

Cycling terms:
http://www.usacycling.org/events/2005/trackworlds/mediaGuide/2005%20UCI%20Track%20Cycling%20World%20Championships%20Information/cyclespeak.pdf

Here we come !

Hi guys, ......this is the end of another week choc-a-block with work,.....work seems to spill-over into every free second available,...it just doesn't reduce,..like stacks of raddi which always grow higher no matter how many times you sell to the raddiwala....anyways , work is not junk and certainly not to be trashed ! ( The only similarity is we make money out of both!)

Anyways, i thought of sharing with you all an incident /experience i had while on the local train...sorry guys, its not anything dreadful / funny / sad. It's just plain warm and feel-good and optimistic also ! ......Daily i have to undergo a punishing 4-hour commute to office and back, and to beat the monotony i always end up carrying books to read.

That day i was reading Lance Armstrong's 'It's not about the bike'. The book is written in a very engaging manner and i was engrossed. Suddenly the girl besides me asked if i would answer her question. I was certain it would be about the book ! I noted that though the girl looked very simple, she spoke english. She asked me about the book, where i had bought it from, whether it was a part of my study/ course etc etc. Her english was halting, she was obviously not well-versed in the language, but was certainly making good attempts to speak right. I told her that a dear friend had lent me the book, but that she could buy it from a few shops near Thane railway station, that it was not a study book , and that i simply loved to read. She suddenly brought out a notebook and pen and wrote down the name of the book.

Some more conversation with her revealed that she had recently joined an academy where they taught english-speaking, she was also learning computer basics and with that knowledge she hoped to get a job in BMC ( her father already worked there...so i think she was banking on some kind of help from him )....i was happy to know her views that she thought of women no less than men..that she fought with ppl who thought women are a weaker race, she hoped not to marry ( here i convinced her that not marrying is not the right way to show that you are independent.....interdependency through companionship is a much higher form of understanding and maturity)....she said she would marry a guy who thought of her on equal terms.....since she was a resident of Ghatkopar for fairly long, somewhere through all this the conversation moved towards my college (K.J.Somaiya)....and here , a young lady sitting in front of us also joined in. She was also a former student of Somaiya college , although commerce, not engg,......she was now working in the material planning / sales division at Kodak,.....had got married very recently , and had shifted base from Chembur to her husband's home at Kalyan,...and had woken up to the harsh commute which drained her totally....and yet, to top this all, she had recently started her part-time MBA from Somaiya !!!

She had to leave early in the morning for her office at Santa Cruz and in the evenings she would attend her lectures, trudge back home after that to find a very caring ma-in-law who looked after the house and kept dinner ready ! All of us agreed that it is a blessing to have hot home-cooked food waiting for you at the end of the day ! ......The girl was very tired but she spoke with so much eagerness about her MBA....and was very determined to do her post-graduation....MBA changes your life...she told me....maybe i will be able to experience that soon enough i thought !

What impacted me most was the attitude of both the girls, although their backgrounds were different, both were convinced that there is no stopping a woman once she decides what she wants to do ! They believed women were as good / better than men when it came to delivering the goods and thought of women as equals in marriage , partners for life !.....May the spirit surge ahead !

Confessions of a meandering mind

Hello ppl, some days back i was just meandering ( rather my thoughts) ...and then i decided to pen down the trickling....which slowly turned into a gushing river.....

***
i don't know what i am searching for, and why ?
for probably the search is for that which is intangible;
that which cannot be described, cannot be summed up.

am i the only one who is confused ? many times i wonder;
cannot be; since the human mind is nothing but an ocean of thoughts;
the waves lash out against each other , battling it out in hurricanes and storms.

many such storms i have weathered; yet dunno if the next one will make me crumble;
sometimes it just gets way too lonely; and you need someone out there;
amidst the peaks and the troughs; to hold you while the storm brews out.

life is a progression; so many variables;
but the search is for the constant which gives it a definite high.
although the variables determine the journey, it is the constant which makes it worthy.

sometimes i don't need it; so lost i am in my own race ahead;
sometimes i run away from it; valuing my freedom more than anything else;
yet i know it is companionship that the heart searches for; for that is the crux of our being.

many tears have been shed; some with reason and some without;
but till it finds the treasure, the mind and heart will have to hold it out;
i only hope that the wait is eventful; and not excruciating; for that is what life is all about.
***

It is not exactly prose; i tried to fashion it that way but failed miserably. Anyways, beleive me, i write / compose much better than this...just that i am past my prime :P !!!!

What am i thinking ?

Hi guys, i wanted to post sooner - what with the resolution taken (as usual without thinking much abt the effort estimates involved..as usual i am very gung-ho, optimistic in the start---haan haan kar lenge...ho jayega !....typical IT manager attitude...bechara will promise client the moon...and deliver a crater !!) to update the brand new blog regularly - so the resolution keeps playing on in the background as a schedule job - rebuking the mind / body that it is indeed lazy to post even a few things of all the numerous thoughts that it has grappled with.........gosh ! STOP !

Why, although i realise that everything that you do should always come from within (..this is my oft repeated advice to all and sundry for all the WHY problems that they face in life......ex. my mom- about her only son - who refuses to study - inspite of her zillionth lecture - WHY does he not study ?---My answer: because the feeling to study does not come from within).....i am a firm believer in the funda that for a person to truly do something regularly, he/she must enjoy doing it and only then the feeling will come from within.

As i am writing this, i also realise that probably i like thinking more than writing (?).....( of course...sochne ke liye koi kasht nahi karne padte :P....bas socho, dimaag to full time on rehta hain....but writing requires that your thoughts have some structure,...that they make some sense when put together,..that they prove to be useful...i know here again, u might say,...kya yaar, why should all things be done with some purpose ?...i remember asking my friend seshadri (whom i will refer to as seshu from now onwards..this was pure uselss information :))....why do all the actions that you do in your life have some purpose ?...why is it that even when i am reading i should read usefully...i read for the pure joy of reading...but probably not the right thing to say in a B-school interview.....seshu gave a philospohical ( according to him :P)....answer which stopped my WHY question in its tracks...but sadly guys, i don't remember his answer .....hehehe....poor registration !

Sorry readers, now i am seriously wondering the aim / objective of this post.....i can almost see your fist closing in....;).....itna waqt barbad kiya hamara...woh bhi confusion padhne ke liye !!! hahahaha....relax,...i am just doing some writing practice, understanding the way i write ( i am sure you will agree that i tend to write tangentially....go somewhere else while i am aiming for something)...getting in the flow..this is but net practice....and you unfortunately are here to witness that...don't worry, i will reward you - with my autograph !!

Oye... Its Sunday !

Some time back in Jan-Feb 2009, my friend Payal who is in the U.S. pursuing her post-graduate studies, came back for her vacations, we school-friends decided to meet up..and as a minute of that meeting came up the idea of a blog...we also decided on weekly emails..but yes, the blog would be a reflection ( or rather broadcast :P) of the thoughts running through our minds....our mind is always thinking something or the other...so why not give it an outlet !! ( at the expense of poor hapeless readers....hahaha)...anyways, so kickstarting my blog today finally on the eve of International Woman's Day - March 8 !...I only hope that i succeed in my objective to keep this blog useful (that is for you also to decide) and regularly updated....this would be a window to my world...if you care to peep in !